Congress OKs $22 million for Hawaiian Home Lands

Federal lawmakers have committed to a record funding appropriation for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

U.S. senators gave final approval Friday to a bill that would allocate $22.3 million to DHHL, sending the measure to President Joe Biden for his anticipated signature.

The impending contribution, announced by U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, would be the most money delivered at once to DHHL by the federal government ever, and compares with a $2 million appropriation in 2021.

The congressional appropriation was approved as Hawaii lawmakers consider making their own historic contribution to DHHL — a $600 million deposit — to help the agency develop homestead lots for several thousand beneficiaries.

“We secured the highest level of funding for Native Hawaiian housing ever,” Schatz, chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Development, said in a statement. “This major increase in funding is a big win and means DHHL will have more resources to put people into homes.”

Tyler Iokepa Gomes, DHHL deputy director, said in a statement the federal money will provide financing for home construction or repair, rental assistance and other housing services aimed at reducing homelessness.

“DHHL is grateful for Sen. Schatz and the Appropriations Committee’s confidence and faith in our ability to deploy these much-needed federal funds,” he said. “We look forward to our increased capacity to deliver housing to Native Hawaiians and fulfill the mission of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920.”

Federal funding for DHHL had dwindled in recent years at least in part due to the agency’s difficulty in spending all the money it received.

William J. Aila Jr., DHHL’s director, told state lawmakers earlier this month that those spending challenges, which included difficulty using $9 million delivered by Congress in 2015, have been fully resolved and helped restore confidence among federal lawmakers that they should increase funding to the agency.

DHHL for decades has not been able to keep up with demand for homesteads that are developed for beneficiaries who can receive 99-year land leases for $1 a year but have to pay for or build their own homes.

The agency has around 28,700 applicants on a wait-list for homestead lots.

With a $600 million capital infusion, DHHL anticipates being able to deliver 2,910 homestead lots on Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Hawaii island and Kauai by 2028 and have $112 million left over to be used for cash assistance. This assistance could be used by beneficiaries on the wait-list who are willing to relinquish their claim in exchange for up to $100,000 if used to help buy a home that is not on DHHL land or even to pay down a mortgage on a home they own outside a DHHL subdivision.

Hawaii lawmakers in 2021 appropriated a record $78 million for DHHL to develop more than 700 homestead lots. The $600 million state proposal this year equals a sum the Legislature approved in 1995 as part of a settlement over state obligations to the program, though the settlement was paid out over 20 years.